Speech #1090120442

In 1986. the law said that if you are a convicted felon. if you have committed three misdemeanors. you are not eligible for amnesty. This bill on the floor does not provide that exclusion from the general grant of amnesty. Furthermore. there are some who say: OK. convicted felons. people who commit misdemeanors. but dont exclude from the grant of amnesty the 4to 500.000 people who have had their day in court. who are socalled absconders. who are under final orders of deportation. because it wouldnt be fair to exclude them from this general grant of amnesty. I disagree. I believe if you have had one bite at the apple or if you have had your day in court. you have had due process of law but you have demonstrated your unwillingness to comply with the lawful order of a court. then you should not be given amnesty so that you can remain in this country because if you are demonstrating by your very first acts. once you have come to this country. that you have no respect for our laws. then how are we to expect that you will ever have respect for other laws that are important for public safety and for the welfare of the American people? Among these 4- to 500.000 people who would be included as absconders that this motion to table seeks to prevent us from excluding under the general grant of amnesty. in 2004. the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention and removal operations removed 165.000plus aliens from the United States. Of those 165.000plus. 65.000 had been previously formally removed or deported at least one time before. So not only are the people who are sought to be excluded from this general grant of amnesty guilty of violating our laws. many of them are guilty of violating it on a serial basis.